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This study examined whether rates of economically motivated crimes (e.g., larceny, grand larceny, robbery, and fraud) increased faster than less or noneconomically motivated crimes (e.g., homicide, assault, and rape) during the period of change from state socialism to a market economy in China.

Abstract:

The study is prefaced with the argument that a major characteristic of socialist societies is the institutionalized suppression of individuals' economic motivation. In contrast, a market economy is based on active entrepreneurial spirit and individuals' strong economic motivation, which is often expanded to extremes to survive the fierce competition of the free market. Traditional anomie-based crime theories have not explicitly considered the role of economic motivation in the transition from state socialist societies to market economies. Data for the current study were annual national total counts for homicide, assaults, robbery, rape, larceny, grand larceny, and fraud from 1978 to 1999; excepting assault, for which data were available only from 1980 to 1999. Crime rates per 100,000 people were calculated. To make the trends comparable, charts show indexed trends, which is the best method for showing trend data at differing rates. The findings show that economically motivated crimes generally increased at a faster rate than less or noneconomically motivated crimes; however, these findings should not be viewed as providing a conclusive test for the economic-motivation thesis compared with the existing anomie-based explanations. Further examination of similar data in other social contexts is important for additional testing of the two theories. 1 table, 4 figures, and 91 references

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